Riding the escalator at the airport. Strangely, KK's eyes were starting to look swollen. We didn't notice it must at the time and just figured it was from the airplane air.
We got in pretty late at night so everything was closed. This foiled our plan to get a simcard from the airport. Doh!
Our awesome friend Joan had helped us order a ride from the airport to their home. The kids were completely blown away that there were iPads mounted for them to play. Tyler played Fruit Ninja.
All settled in! We have such amazing friends to let us stay with them! And the area was PERFECT! It had a little room (closed off from the rest of the house) that led to a bedroom and bathroom. Perfect for the kids to get over the time zone change while Will slept inside in the bedroom. The kids were not tired when we got in (even though it was super late) so what should they do? Well KUMON OF COURSE!! Haha.
Good morning! Day 2! Excited to start our adventure! I had a couple Taiwan guidebooks with me and had lots of things I wanted to do. No dilly-dallying on our first international (and hopefully not last) family trip!
The kids were so excited to play with their friends, they always pick up right where they left off! We brought a Wii for J's birthday I think for them to play with.
On to very important things. Food! I was mentally prepared to eat my way through Taiwan. We were so lucky to have a cook/nanny at my friend's home! How wonderful that would be!!
Now onto Breakfast #2. This is normal eating behavior while on vacation. Our friend knows all the good places to eat - WHOOHOO! Heaven I am in. I love Chinese breakfast!
Afterward we headed to my Aunt's home. It's been so long! The kids were excited to feed her different pets.
The kids got hit with jetlag and they napped (Will too!). In the meantime my aunt took me (on her schooter!) to pick up some food.
My puopuo comes over! So good to see her! She had never met Katelyn and the last time she saw Tyler she was helping me when he was first born!!
Crazy rain outside. We headed over to this Little Mermaid play area. It was pretty crazy big, took up almost a whole floor of a mall! Plus it was so empty since it was a weekday!
Lunch downstairs at the mall food court. Gosh, to have Chinese food like this in a food court - so delicious!
That's a lot of cash Tyler!
Taiwanese bakeries are all over the place here and they all have delicious breads!
Hung out with our friends that afternoon once all the boys were home from school.
Day 3. Glad I brought rain jackets for the kids. We walked our friends to their school nearby.
And then, of course, more breakfast. I could eat this every darn day.
Feeling nauseated from the amount of carbs I ate, I headed upstairs to the gym. The kids came to check it out too - there was an air hockey table!
Met up wth our friends for lunch at an all you can eat sushi place. REALLY good quality sushi and salmon!! Loved the hand rolls to order.
That afternoon we explored and KK was really feeling the jetlag. Not only that, her eyes had gotten really swollen now and the Benadryl we brought wasn't helping. Our friend make us an appointment with her pediatrician who quickly saw us and wrote us an antihistamine prescription. He spoke English and studied in the States. Apparently KK is allergic to the climate there, haha!
Quick stop at the Barbie Cafe!
Back at my friends' place. They were doing construction in the lobby so the kids always stayed together. It was really cool, a doorman would come out and meet us every time we drove in. Felt very NYC!
Dinner for a special occasion for their family that we joined. Check out that giant table! I have never seen a round table that large.
Dinner was at the Sangri-La hotel. KK and I walked around and found cute lounges with curtains and nice views. All I needed was a drink!
Day 4. Time to get serious about exploring. Got up bright and early and hit the road with my guidebook. We found our way to the subway, whoohoo!
How cute are the subway stations?
Never ending escalators.
Hike to Elephant Mountain! Lots of walking.
Can you tell they are excited to walk.
We made it halfway! See Taipei 101 in the background. Quite a bit of humidity. We're sweating and I'm unknowingly being bitten by mosquitos. Still, I was proud that the kids made it so far!
I got my umbrella out cuz the sun is blazing! No shame, I'm protecting my skin! :)
Back at the bottom of the mountain, the kids relaxed by playing in a nearby park.
My favorite fruit! Wax apples! So delicious! And oh my gosh 2 years ago I sure was a lot younger and skinnier. Sigh.
Celebrating Will's birthday with lunch eating his favorite - soup dumplings! We met up with some friends at the DTF in Taipei 101.
Always good to see friends!
Afterward, we headed to the top of Taipei 101!
What a view!
My obsession with barley in my shaved ice started that day. It was so delicious that I thought about it every day for the rest of the trip and kept having to go back. So much better than the super sweet Class 302 or Guppy House shaved ice!
Look, a fruit platter for me! So wonderful! That's grapefruit with all the skin/fiber peeled off!
That night we left the kids with the nanny and headed out to a night market with our good friends. How wonderful, right? When I think back about this trip, I realize how incredibly lucky we were to stay with our friends. Traveling with kids is usually pretty tough (so I've heard) but this really was the BEST TRIP EVER!
You know what you do at night markets right? EAT eat eat eat.
Ice cream with cilantro and peanut brittle shavings. So good.
Rice stuffed with stuffed sausage. AHHH!
Then we ended the night with a really painful food massage. I don't understand why foot massages are so painful, but I will say it feels GREAT at the end because they finally stopped torturing you. :)
Is this photo below scary? J introduced me to an app that can make my eyes bigger. It is no longer on my phone but I wish I could play around with it some more. Haha!
Day 5. Starbucks stop!
Then Breakfast! This is a mandatory event every morning. The shaobing here was so ridiculously delicious and gooey.
Then time for sight seeing! I think CKS Memorial.
Afterward, Will took Tyler to cool off and get ice cream at a local mall.
I went to get my nails done with my GF - KK got her nails done too but fell asleep.
Then we did some skin care shopping! Doesn't the Taiwan air make me look whiter? haha!
KK was very excited about the Hello Kitty cafe. We bought some desserts to go (not that spectacular, but very cute!)
I love looking back at my little Katelyn. She really is the light of my life!
Lunch was this AMAZING Japanese place.
We walked around National University afterward (both Will's dad and my dad are alumni). Love that we got around so easily on taxis!
And then had delicious shaved ice across the street!
What better way to cool off than a dip in the roof top pool?
For dinner the kids got to make their own little Chinese burritos.
I've died and gone to heaven. How wonderful if I had a never ending supply of vegetables made for me everyday! :)
Day 6! Always starting with the most delicious fruit plate.
It was Saturday and with the boys home Tyler was pretty set on playing video games with them.
So Will and I headed out with KK to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial. I love these museums/historic spots!
Of course afterward we had more Chinese breakfast. It is a problem, I can't help it!
Afterward we forced Tyler to leave the house as we headed to lunch with my mom's side of the family.
Check out this crazy filter on my cousins' phone! It is a bit ridiculous, don't you think?
We got convinced to have the kids take some photos at a little booth at the mall. Somehow from there we booked a full session for them. Super fobby but I was excited for the kids to do it!
Mmmm, more breads.
Oh! It was my birthday that day! We're having so much fun I forgot. We went to Lawry's Taipei for dinner - my favorite - I love prime rib!
After we put the kids down to bed, we headed to a Karaoke place to meet some friends. Super fancy karaoke place! We needed a person to take us up to the VIP floor!
Day 7. I woke up to my little 4 year old's birthday wishes!
It was a busy day, we went to this arcade/restaurant place to celebrate J's birthday with his friends.
Then we all drove down to the beach! I would definitely say Taiwan is not known for their beaches, but the kids had fun and I had pineapple flavored tsingdao beer!
What a week! More to come in the next post!
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